July 29th - August 16th

I just posted the blog entry I wrote in late July and am attempting to catch up on events in the last few weeks.

The rest of the Team Swangelista Summer 2009 Odyssey was amazing. We had an awesome time in Seattle, despite the record-breaking heat (104 degrees when we landed – hottest day in Seattle history!) We got to see New York friend Aminah who was in town visiting her family, as well as have a reunion with Brent friend Raquel and her husband Richmond. We had an awesome time catching up and also doing some sightseeing. Seattle is such a lovely city – it was so nice to spend a few days there.

From Seattle we moved on to Vancouver, Canada, where we spent a wonderful 6 days with my family. It’s always amazing to spend time with Ced, Lindsey, ate Sheila, Melo, Mark, Bella, tito Chong, tita Ogie, Malia, Breanne and Branden. We did lots of fun stuff, including a trip to Whistler and to Victoria where I got to catch up with old elementary school (UPIS) friends Joanna and Edurado, and meet their adorable babies, Raine and Bell. In Vancouver, we also got to meet up with my middle school in Japan friend, Brandi, and her boyfriend James. Brandi introduced me and Marcus and we hadn’t seen her since our wedding, so that was another fab reunion.

After we left Canada, we flew on to Hong Kong where we stayed with a university friend of Marcus’, Graeme. We had a really fun time hanging out with him as well as with Ed, Sage, Bethany and Damien. We took in the sights in the city, and also went on a day trip to Macau. We were a bit under whelmed by Macau but in the end, I think I am glad we went. We only had 3 days in Hong Kong so we had to pack everything in, but despite the exhaustion and jetlag, we had a really great time.

After Hong Kong, we finally flew to the Philippines!

As much as we’d had a blast traveling, it felt so good to finally arrive home and to be with my family. We stayed with my ate Sara, brother in law Mark and their kids, Matthew, Andy and Joshua. Our stay in Manila was also way too short but we did get some quality time in with my sis and her fam, my kuya Alex, my sister’s in laws, friends Karen and Len Trinidad, and my Brent guys Paulo, Frankie, Joel, Chino, DJ, and DJ’s girlfriend Abby. Fun times!

On August 16^th, Marcus and I got up early to catch our flight to Palawan. I checked my email on my phone as usual, and was crushed to find an email from my good friend Nick telling me that his aunt, my beloved Susan Smyly, had passed away after a 5 year battle with scleroderma and a nearly 4 month stay in a hospital in NYC. Marcus and I had visited her regularly at Mt. Sinai in the last couple months we had in NYC and we were just so sad to get this news. Smyly was my mom’s best friend from the third grade, and I knew that my mom would be devastated by this news. By the time we arrived in Palawan, she already knew. As much as I wish that we could have been in NYC to be some support for Smyly’s husband, Tom, I am glad we were here in Palawan so I could be with my mom. It’s still hard to believe that she is gone and I still think about her so often. I am glad that her suffering is over but I miss her.